Big dreams are a thing… we had a dream to swim all the way across False Bay. When we discovered that we could do it as a relay we jumped at the opportunity. After a year of training, planning, thinking and figuring things out we finally left Simonstown at 2:00AM on Monday morning, and headed for Miller’s Point, our swim start. From Miller’s Point we steadily made our way across the bay to Rooi Els, where family and friends were waiting fo us.
It’s Official, We DID IT!!!
The first thing people ask us when we say we are doing a False Bay Crossing… Why? What motivates three moms to train all the way through winter, to get in the sea despite the weather, to figure out all the details… to squad train at ridiculous hours of the morning and catch up missed swims late at night… Why would we do it?
Because we love it… and we see the privilege that it is to be able to do this. We want future generations to love it too, and that is why we swam to raise funds for the I Am Water Foundation.
The I AM Water Foundation is an NGO, that takes children from all communities, in greater Cape Town, and provides them with immersive workshops. Children from schools with very limited resources, that wouldn’t normally get to go to the beach, or enjoy the ocean. They are given lessons in rock pooling, ocean conservation, citizen science, they have a safe ocean experience and go snorkeling with incredible coaches… they learn breathing and relaxation techniques that they can take home with them.
Children that have never ever been in the ocean before, even though they live alongside it, are given the opportunity to safely explore and immerse themselves in a fun and safe environment… Children that don’t know that they can dream big are given exposure to a whole new world… and the chance to Dream BIG… we love Big Dreams and we are raising funds for them… We are at 75% of our goal and would love to raise the last bit… every drip and drop helps. Here is a link to our GivenGain Page.
Let’s Talk About the Swim
We set out at 2 am, we predicted to be out on the water for about fifteen hours… nerves were flying high and we were expecting to start at first light, turns out we were starting in the pitch dark and there was no time to even think about it.
Sometimes the less time you have to think about things the better, and swimming through the bioluminescence was absolute magic… just before we got in, we had dolphins flying past us and swimming under the stars was a truly magical experience and a highlight!!!
Not to mention that by the time the sun rose we were all onto our second swim of the day…
So a relay across the bay means that we take turns swimming, one hour of swimming and then a wait on the boat while the other swimmers take their turn. By breakfast time I was so thankful for our night time swimming, because we were already half way, and it felt like we were starting fresh with the new day, but with all the miles of our swim we were already well on the way.
The rest of the day flew by… I think the months of careful planning and asking lots of questions of the great swimmers that have done this before us, helped with our preparations, helped with out nutrition… there was a lot going on. The two hours of rest on the boat was actually busy time of keeping warm, changing into dry costumes – not as easy as it sounds – and getting the nutrition in, also not as easy as it sounds on an ever-so-gently-rocking-and-swaying boat.
And before we knew it… we were headed for the beach. One of the best things we had going for us, to encourage us, was a Whatsapp group of followers sending us messages throughout the day. It massively helped, even though there were patches where we had no reception. It was worth the wait to get the messages through and to see whenever donations were being donated.
Friends and family were waiting for us…
Just knowing there are dry clothes and a hot drink waiting at the end, is very encouraging.
I have to say that our skipper, Derrick from Big Bay Events made us wait for the very best conditions and I am forever grateful for that. We had smooth warm waters all the way and it was only as we got out, that the wind started to pick up. I can never thank him enough for keeping us on track, keeping us safe, helping us avoid jellies and not mentioning wildlife to us while we were swimming, only on the boat!!! And there was a surprising amount of wildlife in the middle of the bay… Perfect conditions meant happy swimmers, exiting the water with huge smiles.
An absolute lifetime highlight of a day, for myself, for each of us, in fact.
I have to say, I am already kind of looking forward to our next adventure together!!! Meanwhile, I have had a lot of questions about relaying the bay… and so I will answer all of those in another blogpost…
Finally, please take a look at our GivenGain Page and support I Am Water. Knowing that we were swimming for a great cause really helped us not to give up at any time along the way…